Resources for the Red Scare - Americans Reaction to Revolution Leads to Reform
Background:
U.S. Social Issues, 1919-1920
"The end of the fighting in Europe did not bring peace and security to the United States. Hatred of the brutal “Huns” was quickly replaced by a fear of anarchists, communists and immigrants. The word "Red" was associated with the Communists and Socialists, while "White" was associated with the conservatives. For instance, in the aftermath of World War I, control of Russia was contested between the Red Army of the Bolsheviks and various White armies. The entire prospect of growing Communist influence became known as the "Red Menace."
Following the triumph of the Bolsheviks in Russia (November 1917) and the establishment of the Soviet Union, efforts were made by communist agents to promote revolution in Western Europe and the United States. In 1919, Wilson appointed a new attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, a Pennsylvania attorney with liberal credentials, including past support for workers’ rights and women’s suffrage. Palmer, however, reversed his views. In April, the Post Office discovered 38 bombs that hade been mailed to leading American politicians and capitalists. Shortly thereafter, an Italian anarchist was blown up outside Palmer’s residence. The nation’s top law enforcement official became convinced that a radical plot was underway."
Source: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1343.html
Bemidji Daily Pioneer, March 17, 1917, front page
The headline of this newspaper from Bemidji, Minnesota leads to a variety of articles about labor unrest in the United States. It also contains a brief story about the Russian Revolution. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-03-17/ed-1/seq-1/
Cartoon showing Kaiser Wilhelm II with nose and mouth shaped by letters IWW for Industrial Workers of the World.
Repr. of cartoon drawing by H.T. Webster in Cartoons Magazine, Sept. 1917, p. 337. Orig. printed in New York Globe.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005694697/
The Iron Curtain Speech
Video delivery of The Sinews of Peace speech by Winston Churchill at Westminister College, Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946.
Winston Churchill uses the terms “Iron Curtain” in reference to Russia in this speech. Russian historians mark this speech as the beginning of the Cold War. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/wc1006.html
Senator Joe McCarthy
In the aftermath of World War II, Americans reacted with dismay as relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated, the Russians imposed communist control over much of Eastern Europe, and China was on the verge of going communist. People worried that communists might try to subvert schools, labor unions, and other institutions. Government agencies and private groups began to look for evidence of subversive activity. In this climate of fear and suspicion, the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which Herb Block had opposed since its inception in the 1930s, became active. And in 1950, a young senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, seeking political gain, began a well-publicized campaign using smear tactics, bullying and innuendo to identify and purge communists and "fellow travelers" in government. Herb Block recognized the danger to civil liberties posed by such activities and warned of them in his work. He coined the phrase "McCarthyism" in his cartoon for March 29, 1950, naming the era just weeks after Senator McCarthy's spectacular pronouncement that he had in his hand a list of communists in the State Department. His accusations became headline news, vaulting him into the national political spotlight. For four years McCarthy attacked communism, while in his cartoons Herb Block relentlessly attacked his heavy-handed tactics. In June 1954, McCarthy was censured and in December condemned by the Senate. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/fire.html
Cartoon shows a book with title "The Love of Freedom" standing unscathed amid the fires of "Hatred," "Totalitarianism," "Intolerance," and "Ignorance." During the Cold War, the Communist countries routinely practiced censorship and controlled the dissemination of information. In the United States, during the McCarthy era, efforts were made to remove books from libraries and censor free inquiry. Drawn shortly after President Eisenhower deplored book burning and censorship in a speech at Dartmouth College on June 14,1953.
"It is not enough merely to say I love America, and to salute the flag and take off your hat as it goes by, and to help sing the Star Spangled Banner. Wonderful! We love to do them, and our hearts swell with pride, because those who went before you worked to give to us today, standing here, this pride.
And this is a pride in an institution that we think has brought great happiness, and we know has brought great contentment and freedom of soul to many people. But it is not yet done. You must add to it.
Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.
How will we defeat communism unless we know what it is, and what it teaches, and why does it have such an appeal for men, why are so many people swearing allegiance to it? It is almost a religion, albeit one of the nether regions.
And we have got to fight it with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people. They are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them, and their right to have them at places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned, or it isn't America."
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
The Cold War revived the anti-communist hysteria that had gripped the United States after World War I. In 1947 Congress revived the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), opposed by Herb Block since its inception in the 1930s and declared by President Truman to be itself the most un-American activity. Herb Block comments: "The FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, helped provide the committee with material from its aptly named ‘raw files'. Some producers, directors and screen writers refused to testify or to play the ‘name game' in which the committee demanded the names of associates, who could then be called on to name others thus providing an ever-expanding list of suspects to be summoned."
"It's okay – We're hunting Communists," October 31, 1947
Published in the Washington Post
LC-USZ62-127327
BOMB SHELTERS
H-Bomb hideaway, 1955
Summary: Man, woman, and child seated in "Kidde Kokoon," an underground bomb shelter manufactured by Walter Kidde Nuclear Laboratories of Garden City, Long Island, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96519328/
Eward R. Murrow and Joe McCarthy - What led to his broadcasts?
"Murrow’s love of common America led him to seek out stories of ordinary people. He presented their stories in such a way that they often became powerful commentaries on political or social issues. See It Now consistently broke new ground in the burgeoning field of television journalism. In 1953, Murrow made the decision to investigate the case of Milo Radulovich. Radulovich had been discharged from the Air Force on the grounds that his mother and sister were communist sympathizers. The program outlined the elements of the case, casting doubt on the Air Force’s decision, and within a short while, Milo Radulovich had been reinstated. This one edition of See It Now marked a change in the face of American journalism and a new age in American politics.
Soon after the Milo Radulovich program aired, it was learned that Senator Joseph McCarthy was preparing an attack on Murrow. As it happened, Murrow himself had been collecting material about McCarthy and his Senate Investigating Committee for several years, and he began assembling the program. Broadcast on March 9, 1954, the program, composed almost entirely of McCarthy’s own words and pictures, was a damning portrait of a fanatic. McCarthy demanded a chance to respond, but his rebuttal, in which he referred to Murrow as “the leader of the jackal pack,” only sealed his fate. The combination of the program’s timing and its persuasive power broke the Senator’s hold over the nation. The entire fiasco, however, caused a rift with CBS, and they decided to discontinue See It Now." "Edward R. Murrow,This Reporter." American Masters. PBS. February 2, 2007.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/edward-r-murrow/this-reporter/513/
REVOLUTION, REACTION, REFORM IN HISTORY
HISTORY DAY THEME EXPLAINED
RESEARCH GUIDES
NHD Eight Steps to Historical Research
Resources for the Red Scare - Americans Reaction to Revolution Leads to Reform
Background:U.S. Social Issues, 1919-1920
"The end of the fighting in Europe did not bring peace and security to the United States. Hatred of the brutal “Huns” was quickly replaced by a fear of anarchists, communists and immigrants. The word "Red" was associated with the Communists and Socialists, while "White" was associated with the conservatives. For instance, in the aftermath of World War I, control of Russia was contested between the Red Army of the Bolsheviks and various White armies. The entire prospect of growing Communist influence became known as the "Red Menace."
Following the triumph of the Bolsheviks in Russia (November 1917) and the establishment of the Soviet Union, efforts were made by communist agents to promote revolution in Western Europe and the United States. In 1919, Wilson appointed a new attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, a Pennsylvania attorney with liberal credentials, including past support for workers’ rights and women’s suffrage. Palmer, however, reversed his views. In April, the Post Office discovered 38 bombs that hade been mailed to leading American politicians and capitalists. Shortly thereafter, an Italian anarchist was blown up outside Palmer’s residence. The nation’s top law enforcement official became convinced that a radical plot was underway."
Source: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1343.html
Red Scare
Revolution and Anarchy
I.W.W. hat card "Bread or Revolution" , 1914 April 13, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001704463/
Throttled
Bemidji Daily Pioneer, March 17, 1917, front page
The headline of this newspaper from Bemidji, Minnesota leads to a variety of articles about labor unrest in the United States. It also contains a brief story about the Russian Revolution.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-03-17/ed-1/seq-1/
The Tacoma Times, March 16, 1917, front page
This issue of the Tacoma Times presents many concerns facing the nation.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085187/1917-03-16/ed-1/seq-1/
The day book (Chicago, Ill.) March 16, 1917
Washington Amazed at Distorted Strike Reports in the Press
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1917-03-16/ed-1/seq-1/
The day book (Chicago, Ill.), March 17, 1917, p.3
Image of Chicago newspaper story relating the incidents in Russia that led to the abdication of Czar Nicholas.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1917-03-17/ed-1/seq-3/
Cartoon showing Kaiser Wilhelm II with nose and mouth shaped by letters IWW for Industrial Workers of the World.
Repr. of cartoon drawing by H.T. Webster in Cartoons Magazine, Sept. 1917, p. 337. Orig. printed in New York Globe.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005694697/
REACTION
New York Tribune, Nov.1919 23 Held as Reds
Report in the New York Tribune on deportation (Soviet Ark and Garbage Cartoon) Dec., 1919
Article from the New York Tribune Wall Street Bombings 192
Fear of Dissent by Palmer
Another link to the same source is found below:
http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/government/fbi/1920/0200-palmer-redscase.pdf
The Iron Curtain Speech
Video delivery of The Sinews of Peace speech by Winston Churchill at Westminister College, Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946.
Winston Churchill uses the terms “Iron Curtain” in reference to Russia in this speech. Russian historians mark this speech as the beginning of the Cold War.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/wc1006.html
Senator Joe McCarthy
In the aftermath of World War II, Americans reacted with dismay as relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated, the Russians imposed communist control over much of Eastern Europe, and China was on the verge of going communist. People worried that communists might try to subvert schools, labor unions, and other institutions. Government agencies and private groups began to look for evidence of subversive activity. In this climate of fear and suspicion, the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which Herb Block had opposed since its inception in the 1930s, became active. And in 1950, a young senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, seeking political gain, began a well-publicized campaign using smear tactics, bullying and innuendo to identify and purge communists and "fellow travelers" in government. Herb Block recognized the danger to civil liberties posed by such activities and warned of them in his work. He coined the phrase "McCarthyism" in his cartoon for March 29, 1950, naming the era just weeks after Senator McCarthy's spectacular pronouncement that he had in his hand a list of communists in the State Department. His accusations became headline news, vaulting him into the national political spotlight. For four years McCarthy attacked communism, while in his cartoons Herb Block relentlessly attacked his heavy-handed tactics. In June 1954, McCarthy was censured and in December condemned by the Senate.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/fire.html
One book that can't be burned. Marcus, Edwin 1953 June 19 [Probably published in: New York Times]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/acd1996005751/PP/
Cartoon shows a book with title "The Love of Freedom" standing unscathed amid the fires of "Hatred," "Totalitarianism," "Intolerance," and "Ignorance." During the Cold War, the Communist countries routinely practiced censorship and controlled the dissemination of information. In the United States, during the McCarthy era, efforts were made to remove books from libraries and censor free inquiry. Drawn shortly after President Eisenhower deplored book burning and censorship in a speech at Dartmouth College on June 14,1953.
PRESIDENT EISENHOWER AND COMMENTS ON BOOK CENSORSHIP AND BURNINGS
President Eisenhower and June 14 , 1953 graduation speech at Dartmouth. Excerpt from
Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Remarks at the Dartmouth College Commencement Exercises, Hanover, New Hampshire.," June 14, 1953. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9606.
"It is not enough merely to say I love America, and to salute the flag and take off your hat as it goes by, and to help sing the Star Spangled Banner. Wonderful! We love to do them, and our hearts swell with pride, because those who went before you worked to give to us today, standing here, this pride.
And this is a pride in an institution that we think has brought great happiness, and we know has brought great contentment and freedom of soul to many people. But it is not yet done. You must add to it.
Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.
How will we defeat communism unless we know what it is, and what it teaches, and why does it have such an appeal for men, why are so many people swearing allegiance to it? It is almost a religion, albeit one of the nether regions.
And we have got to fight it with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people. They are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them, and their right to have them at places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned, or it isn't America."
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
The Cold War revived the anti-communist hysteria that had gripped the United States after World War I. In 1947 Congress revived the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), opposed by Herb Block since its inception in the 1930s and declared by President Truman to be itself the most un-American activity. Herb Block comments: "The FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, helped provide the committee with material from its aptly named ‘raw files'. Some producers, directors and screen writers refused to testify or to play the ‘name game' in which the committee demanded the names of associates, who could then be called on to name others thus providing an ever-expanding list of suspects to be summoned."
"It's okay – We're hunting Communists," October 31, 1947
Published in the Washington Post
LC-USZ62-127327
BOMB SHELTERS
H-Bomb hideaway, 1955
Summary: Man, woman, and child seated in "Kidde Kokoon," an underground bomb shelter manufactured by Walter Kidde Nuclear Laboratories of Garden City, Long Island, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96519328/
Eward R. Murrow and Joe McCarthy - What led to his broadcasts?
"Murrow’s love of common America led him to seek out stories of ordinary people. He presented their stories in such a way that they often became powerful commentaries on political or social issues. See It Now consistently broke new ground in the burgeoning field of television journalism. In 1953, Murrow made the decision to investigate the case of Milo Radulovich. Radulovich had been discharged from the Air Force on the grounds that his mother and sister were communist sympathizers. The program outlined the elements of the case, casting doubt on the Air Force’s decision, and within a short while, Milo Radulovich had been reinstated. This one edition of See It Now marked a change in the face of American journalism and a new age in American politics.
Soon after the Milo Radulovich program aired, it was learned that Senator Joseph McCarthy was preparing an attack on Murrow. As it happened, Murrow himself had been collecting material about McCarthy and his Senate Investigating Committee for several years, and he began assembling the program. Broadcast on March 9, 1954, the program, composed almost entirely of McCarthy’s own words and pictures, was a damning portrait of a fanatic. McCarthy demanded a chance to respond, but his rebuttal, in which he referred to Murrow as “the leader of the jackal pack,” only sealed his fate. The combination of the program’s timing and its persuasive power broke the Senator’s hold over the nation. The entire fiasco, however, caused a rift with CBS, and they decided to discontinue See It Now."
"Edward R. Murrow,This Reporter." American Masters. PBS. February 2, 2007. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/edward-r-murrow/this-reporter/513/
Who was Milo Radulovich?
CBS Report
Edward R. Murrow vs. Joe McCarthy
Edward R. Murrow - See It Now (March 9, 1954)
Truman's Executive Order 9835